We booked a garden deluxe room (I think that's what it is called) it's a basic room with a king bed and garden sitting area.

Poor first impressions = I emailed ahead to let them know it was our anniversay and ask if they may upgrade our room as suggested by some friends. I got a response welcoming me and preparing me for
my arrival suggesting I book the hotel shuttle at 300THB per pserson and warning me against the dangers of arranging my own taxi, also asking if I would like to take advantage of booking a private dinner beach or in villa prior to my arrival which would allow me to save %10, thirdly asking me to visit a link to personalize my visit prior to my arrival. I was happy to book the shuttle and asked for more info on the dinner options and informed the representative that I tried to visit the site and personalize my visit but could not do so without a room number, in this email I also reminded the rep about my anniversary inquiring if anything special could be done thinking he must of missed the question on my first email. Well I got no answer to any of my questions the only thing the rep was interested in discussing was booking the shuttle which I did. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe he didn't understand (in which case he should of asked for clarification).

Bad first impressions continue= although the staff was very friendly and welcoming upon our arrival (flower garlands and smiles all around) I still was left with a bad first impression once being escorted to our room. I mentioned to the host that I had emailed someone about our anniversary amd she smiled and suggested she knew, so I thought okay well maybe the rep didn't respond because it was a surprise? Well we entered our room which was awful it was room 104 it was dark damp and mucky (later realized the AC was leaky and after we would come back to the room all our belongings would be wet or damp) with a stale smell and the garden sitting area was a not well kept a hard dark swing with patches of grass in only some areas. The linens were not as gleaming white and clean as you'd expect at a 5 star hotel and the towels looked worn thin and dirty. They did try and acknowledge our anniversary with flowers on the bed, a cake and wine to welcome us..aside from the fact we don't drink I don't think any gesture after entering that room would of made it any better. Forget a room upgrade we payed a lot of money for a 5 star resort room and this was definitely not it. It didn't help that we had just come from a amazing hotel in Malaysia (Fraser place) which we paid way less for and got a much nicer room. After two nights in the room my husband tried to change rooms as we really hated it.

Positive: our encouter with English speaking Ivan who was great and very helpful. Although we were told no other rooms were available Ivan took us to show us the same room type as ours but a different unit which was much nicer because it had just been renovated months ago and a pool garden suite which we could get for $30 US extra a night. We looked at both rooms the same one as ours although much nicer and had we been put in that room from the start there would be no reason to complain but it was very far from the breakfast area and beach so we decided to take the pool room we asked for it to be complimentary but unfortunately that was not possible.
All staff in fact were very friendly and courteous.
You get little treats/desserts every night and they are delicious.
Complimentary Internet.
Breakfast juice bar.


More bad experiences:
New room-Once we moved to the pool room we got to use the pool once only because we would call for someone to clean the pool but it took up to two hours for someone to come! And then it would rain by that time and we never got to enjoy it:( once we found a bird stuck in the pool helped it out and asked someone to come help and clean the pool two hours later housekeeping came but not for the pool after going to the front desk to find someone English speaking we finally had someone come:( the pool room was nice except the door wouldn't close properly which meant Mosquitos could enter easily..
Food- only two restaurants did not enjoy the food and very expensive! Not to mention a 10% service charge on all meals plus %7 tax and that is not including your tip. If you have any allegergies or food restrictions not very accommodating. Mostly everything had meat or was being prepared with cross contamination. Any special requests (ie can you use a clean pan for my egg) was very difficult as they did not understand English aside from limited options it was very difficult to get changes made to anything.
Beach- very dissapointing small strip which was very rocky and two dogs roaming around.
Pools:infinity pool is beautiful but if you don't have kids not the best pool as lots of kids around. Sanctuary pool was nice and quiet adults only but very dirty and unkept.

Location: it is secluded which I wanted and liked but given the expensive and limited food options not a good idea. You can take a shuttle to chaewaeng beach better and cheaper food but I still prefer melatis secluded location as chaewang was very busy and dirty. Surrounding areas were not very attractive.

My suggestions for the resort:
- if they had vegetarian and allergy friendly practices (ie keep veg and not veg food separate to minimize cross contamination, more veg options..incorporate veg friendly training for staff so even if they can't speak English they can understand the importance of cultural differences, education on nut allergies).
- room 104 untill renovated and AC fixed don't book people there...we pay a lot of money and travel far and expect better service at a 5 star hotel...it would be nice to fix up the garden area also so it's actually useable.
-don't charge for the shuttle, and or make more food options available
-get new better quality towels and make sure bed linens clean always
-clean the sanctuary poor more frequently. Clean private pools atleast within half hour (I called over an hour ago and i am still waiting as we speak on my last day:( )

People considering to book:
Ensure you get a decent room, you
don't need to pay for the pool room just make sure you don't end up with one like ours (please note we were told it's scheduled for renovations). If you end up in our situation tell then immediately the room needs to be changed because there are better rooms. If you have food restrictions I strongly suggest pick another resort.

Where we have stayed in the past as comparisons: sandals, sheraton hotels, Marriots, fairmont and most recently Fraser place.


Overall: people were great place was not 5 star.

We stayed at the Melati for our honeymoon & can't say enough positive things about the resort!

The service we received was fantastic. All the staff were so friendly & wanting to help with everything. Our room was very clean & serviced daily.

We had breakfast included with our accommodation which was great. It was a buffet with an egg & juice station. From bacon, potatoes, cereal, fruit, noodles, pasta, muffins, smoked salmon etc, anything you could think of they had.

The resort is located about 10mins from the main shopping & tourist district, 'chawang'. It Is a perfect location, secluded & private but also close enough to Chawang if we wanted to go in.

I cannot recommend this resort enough to fellow honeymooners & anyone else wanting a five star holiday.

A special thank you to Tien who went out of his way for us & was happy to help with our every request. Thank you so much, you really made our holiday!

Can't wait to come back!

Jessica & Anthony.

Prior to our stay, we loved Coldplays track Paradise, and having looked at photos hoped Melati would live up to the title, needless to say it didn't let us down.

We spent 12 nights here for our honeymoon, from the moment we arrived we stepped into paradise and even the personalised welcome note summed up our thoughts 'Wishing you the most memorable experience in paradise'.

Everything about this place was perfect from the pool villa suite room, to the grounds and the best buffet breakfast choice we've ever experienced. You get the best of both worlds with the location, you can enjoy the peace and tranquility of the setting or take advantage of the shuttle bus or private taxi transfer to take you around the island. The small touches made us smile from the chefs evening treats at turndown to the welcoming sight of a cold water bottle handed to you on return from a trip.

We also enjoyed Valentines day whilst there, which was also Jamies birthday and again the service and attention to detail from staff was excellent. They did a special evening which was beautiful and they brought a cake.

We wouldn't hesitate to recommend this stunning resort. Thank you so much to all the staff at Melati for making our honeymoon/Jamies birthday and Valentines day memorable one. Looking forward to visiting you again soon.

Julie and Jamie Dooley

I thought for a while about the title for this review, and after living in Thailand and staying in many, many hotels, I can confidently say that Melati provided the best service over our four-day stay that I've experienced. Now that we have two small children in tow, I can emphatically say that it's WORTH it to have helpful, friendly faces around when you're on a family vacation!

Resort grounds: As other reviewers have said, the gardens and landscaping are delightful. We stayed in two different rooms, both near the top of the resort rather than close to the beach and pool, and we actually enjoyed the walk back and forth because it gave us a chance to take in the various tropical plants, the little flowing stream, and carp. (And on one occasion when the walk back seemed way too far carrying a 20-pound baby and coaxing a hungry toddler along, I'm grateful for a staff member asking if she could call the buggy to give us a ride!)

Food: On the downside, I also agree about how relatively expensive the food is at the resort. I understand that you're always going to pay more than usual at a place like this, but the prices for everyday Thai dishes are really the HIGHEST I've ever seen, in any sort of hotel. Luckily there was a casual restaurant just next door along the beach. Still, the food at The View and room service was tasty enough, and I recommend the pizza. I wish I'd ordered the spinach pizza one more time before leaving. The breakfast buffet was solidly average.

Travel with kids: It's a nice touch to have DVDs available in the library near reception. Great for keeping kids entertained after mornings at the beach. Rain and Noom at the Kid's Club were very friendly and helpful.

Room: We stayed in a Grand Deluxe, one night on the ground floor, three nights on the second. The rooms are very spacious and clean. I preferred the second floor because it was much brighter and with a nice balcony and view of the palm trees, etc. The bathrooms are open to the outside (i.e. big slats in the windows with no screens) so you'll have to watch out for mosquitos and be sure to keep the bathroom door shut. The floor of the shower gets slippery and my toddler slipped twice in there, so just have to be careful with little kids. Our bathroom also had a sewage smell (varied from slight smell to a strong stench), maybe from a drain by the toilet. We kept the fan on, door to the bathroom closed, covered the drain with a trash can, and burned the essential oil thing they had in there.

Service: The first two nights of our stay I hardly slept because a mosquito or two got into the room and targeted me. I was becoming a wreck and the next morning I asked Da if they had a mosquito net. Within two hours, someone was at the room to install the net and I had a restful night! Also thanks to Kesnia (not sure about the spelling), one of the managers, for kindly extending our checkout so the baby could nap before our flight to Bangkok. Impressive service all around from our first meal to leaving for the airport.